The next version of Apple's iOS portable operating system could allow developers to create applications that support facial recognition in the products that use the OS. 9to5Mac.com reports via unnamed sources that iOS 5 will have an API that will give any creators of apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch the ability to integrate such technology into future software projects. The story states that the facial recognition tech is due in part to Apple's acquisition of a Sweden based company called Polar Rose. Apple bought the company in 2010 which developed face detection algorithms.

The story says that Apple itself doesn't have any plans to release apps that will take advantage of the new iOS facial recognition technology. However the article adds that it has seen the APIs that it has developed for the third party software creators. One of them is called CIFaceFeature which "can determine through an image where a person’s mouth and eyes are located."

This is just the latest Internet rumor about what iOS 5 might have inside. A few days ago another rumor hit the net that suggests that the operating system will also have voice controlled features that will allow iPhone users to speak into the phone to perform tasks such as finding the time for a movie and scheduling a meeting at the movie theater with friends. We should learn a lot more about Apple's plans for iOS 5, and indeed for the next version of its iPhone, sometime this fall, perhaps as early as September.